Welcome to Stories from Among the Stars.

You're listening to Fate of the Fallen by Kelkade.

Chapter 6

The journey to Tiley was long, and Aslo, tired of the incessant wind that rattled the prairie grasses.

Beyond haggling with a few shopkeepers, he spoke with no one besides Matthias.

He could not even escape the phantom in his sleep.

His dreams were haunted by bloody battles, each of them different,

but always ending the same with a beheading.

Sometimes it was Matthias's, sometimes his own.

Day after day, Matthias droned on about the most trivial things.

The phantom voice wondered about the origin of the stars,

pondered why most animals had four legs,

calculated random currency exchanges,

and told the story of Parcia at least twice per day.

Aslo wondered why he chose that particular story. They had read it together

years before, and it had only come up again on the last day they had truly spoken, the last

day of Matthias's life. You think I'm dead? The voice roused Aslo from his reflections.

Are you saying you're not?

He said as he stared down an empty road that was little more than a set of wagon

ruts through a field.

I suppose that's a matter of opinion.

What is death anyway?

...